Morrison-Shearer Foundation

The Morrison-Shearer Foundation was established in 1991 to preserve and exhibit the works and documentary materials relating to the careers of photographer Helen Balfour Morrison and dancer-choreographer Sybil Shearer; to maintain the Home and Studio as a source of inspiration for others; and to sponsor new creativity. It is a private operating foundation supported entirely by income from the Foundation investments. Since the death of Sybil Shearer in 2005, the Foundation has been managed by a Board of Trustees, named by Ms. Shearer and guided by her wishes as expressed in her document "Purpose and Aims of the Museum" (1985). The Foundation’s current priorities are to complete the publication of Sybil Shearer’s three-volume autobiography, Without Wings the Way is Steep; to preserve and archive all photographs, films, letters, manuscripts, reviews and other memorabilia; to provide modest annual Board-initiated grants in support of current work in the arts, especially dance; to explore the possibilities of creating an artists’ retreat at the home and studio in Northbrook, Illinois; and to share the Morrison-Shearer legacy.